Tom Cruise's not so happy 50th birthday

Hollywood hunk Tom Cruise, the star of blockbusters like Top Gun, Mission Impossible and Jerry Maguire has many avatars, in reel and real life. Here's a look at the actor's life so far...

Tom Cruise's mother was a special education teacher and his father was an electrical engineer. His parents separated when he was just twelve.

In school, Tom was very active in athletics. He played floor hockey and once even chipped his front tooth. Apart from sports Tom also was involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg. The first play he participated in was called IT.

In high school Tom played football, but he was thrown out from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.

Tom Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987, but their relationship didn't last long. They got divorced in 1990.

Tom met Nicole Kidman on the sets of Days of Thunder and the couple later tied the knot in December 1990.

Nicole and Tom had adopted two children, Isabella Jane and Connor Antony. The couple got divorced in 2001 when Nicole was three months pregnant.

Tom also had a three-year-long relationship with Penelope Cruz, who was his co-star in Vanilla Sky. They broke-off in 2004.

Next year, Tom began dating actress Katie Holmes. Tom proposed to her at the top of Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In 2006, Katie gave birth to their first child Suri Cruise.

Later the same year, Katie and Tom got married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy.

Cruise has been somewhat of a 'ladies' man' all his life. Besides his well-known relationships with Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Katie Holmes, the other women he has been linked with in the past include Heather Locklear, Rebecca De Mornay, Melissa Gilbert, Cher, Patti Scialfa and Sofia Vergara.

Tom began his movie career in 1981 with the film Endless Love in which he played a supporting role.

Next year Tom featured in a movie called Taps, which also had Sean Penn. The film followed a group of military school students who decide to take over their school in order to save it from closing.

In 1983, Tom Cruise was part of an ensemble cast for the film The Outsiders that also starred Matt Damon and Patrick Swayze among others. The same year Tom did his first comedy Losin' It, also starring Shelley Long. In his next movie All the Right Moves, Tom played the role of a football player, who seeks a college football scholarship to escape his economically depressed town.

His next film Risky Business released in 1983 and launched Tom Cruise to stardom.

Post Risky Business, Tom starred in a fantasy film Legend in 1985.

His first superhit movie was Top Gun (1986) in which Tom played Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young Naval aviator on board the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.

Tom Cruise received a Worst Actor (Razzies) nomination for his role in the film Cocktail, which released in 1988.

In 1988, Cruise teamed up with Dustin Hoffman for the critically acclaimed film Rain Man.

In 1989, Cruise acted in yet another acclaimed film, called Born on the Fourth of July.

It was while shooting for the 1990 film Days of Thunder that Cruise met Aussie beauty Nicole Kidman, who he later married. He did another film with her a couple of years later called Far and Away (1992).

In 1992, Cruise worked with the legendary Jack Nicholson in the film A Few Good Men.

In 1993, more success came Cruise's way with the film, The Firm.

One of the defining films of Tom Cruise's career is Mission Impossible, which released in 1996. The film has since been developed into a trilogy with Cruise playing Ethan Hunt in all. Reently Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was released too.

In 1996, Tom Cruise acted in Jerry McGuire opposite Renee Zellweger.

In 1999, Cruise acted opposite his then wife Nicole Kidman in Stanley Kubrick's Eye Wide Shut.

Cruise entered the year 2000 with the most popular of the Mission Impossible films, M:I-2.

In 2001, Cruise acted opposite Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky. He went on to date Penelope for a while after that as he had separated from Nicole Kidman after a marriage that lasted ten years.

In 2002, Tom Cruise created waves with the sci-fi film Minority Report.

In 2003, Tom Cruise acted in the period drama The Last Samurai.

In 2005, Cruise was seen in another sci-fi movie War of the Worlds, an adaptation of HG Wells' classic novel.

This was also the year Cruise showed his wild side on the The Oprah Winfrey Show, jumping up and down in excitement over his newfound love Katie Holmes. Paramount Pictures cited the actor's controversial public behavior and views while ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise in 2006. However industry insiders claimed the production house was unhappy with Cruise's growing financial clout.

In 2006, Cruise was back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible III. Although the film has grossed over $400 million in worldwide sales, it still remains the least successful of the series. It received generally positive critical reviews.

In 2007, Cruise acted along with Meryl Streep (right) and Robert Redford in Lions for Lambs.

Tom Cruise acted in the historical movie Valkyrie, which was set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Cruise's casting caused controversy among German politicians and members of the von Stauffenberg family because of the actor's practice of Scientology, which is viewed with suspicion in Germany. The actor was reportedly introduced to Scientology by his first wife Mimi Rogers and has since been its outspoken champion.

With his clean-cut good looks, Cruise has repeatedly featured on the list of hottest celebrities. While People magazine rated him among the most beautiful people in the world in 1990, 1991 and 1997, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Later, the magazine also ranked him among the top 5 filmstars of all time. In 2006, Premiere named Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor.